An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Curiosity would go into “protective mode” during the shutdown. This is not the case.

Updated 2:45 p.m. Despite what has been widely reported, a spokesperson at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has confirmed that NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity will continue operating during the government shutdown.

“Because of JPL’s status as a contractor, JPL employees are reporting to work as usual and rover operations are continuing today,” Jane Platt told Weather.com. “Any changes to JPL’s status will be assessed on a week-by-week basis as events unfold.”

JPL operates as a private contractor owned by the California Institute of Technology. It operates both Curiosity and Spirit, another functioning Mars rover, as well as a host of other NASA missions.

Though Curiosity is still running, on the day of its 55th birthday, NASA is definitely not celebrating.

The space agency is among the hardest hit by the indefinite government shutdown, with 97 percent of its more than 18,000 employees being forced to stay home. The agency tweeted this morning that all of its public events are canceled or postponed and its television channel and social media accounts will go silent.

Another of NASA’s most visible projects, the long-lived Hubble Space Telescope, will also feel the effects of the shutdown. Though the telescope will continue to operate, its keepers at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore will not be at work to analyze data or produce images. Calls to STScI had not been returned at the time of this posting.

According to NASA’s shutdown plan, decisions on which employees to keep active were based on “the hazardous nature of certain NASA operations, the threat to property … the preservation of government assets … and the safety of human life.” There are currently six astronauts aboard the International Space Station, which has maintained a constant human presence in space since 1998. Two of them, Karen Nyberg and Mike Hopkins, are NASA astronauts.

"NASA will continue operations in the Mission Control Center to protect the lives of the six crew members in orbit and the safety and security of the space station," NASA spokesman Josh Byerly told SPACE.com late Monday.

As of this morning, attempts to visit NASA’s web site resulted in a message that the web site is not available “due to the lapse in government funding.” A NASA spokesperson’s voicemail message said he had been furloughed and was unable to respond to queries.